Sonic the Hedgehog: Pár Larwèn part 1
by Gulliver Conivette
Summary: Tails and Sonic arranged to go on the Pár Larwèn exhibition on the internet and phone but they get more than they bargained for. With them now living in this strange new world, old conflict gone, there now lies an even greater threat, much bigger than Robotnik has ever been. Tails may be their only hope. Please read and Review. Likely to become a fan movie in the future.
1. Pár Larwèn Expedition

**G'day all. GC here with another story. It is near-sensible with a few weird bits. I will occasionally leave notes in the story when this. Enjoy. Sorry if some bits seem a bit boring. This is the beginning after all.**

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In the middle of the Mystic ruins, Miles Prower, the two-tailed fox, sat on a computer set up in his workshop researching. He was looking at types of fuel.  
"Are you sure you want to go on this expedition to this weird place?" asked Sonic the hedgehog.  
"It says it is free if transportation is prearranged by yourself." said Tails. "Think of it as exploring new places and going on a vacation for free. On this website page, the expedition was announced by someone named 'Seagull C'."  
"What site?" asked Sonic.  
" .m2." replied Tails. "It's got information on this place but I don't even know how to say its name.

"Here we go. JETZ Fuel. How much do we need?"  
"Wouldn't it be easier to not arrange our own transport?" asked Sonic. "We don't know where this place is."  
"I'll have a look then." said Tails. Tails connected to Expedition Venues again. He clicked on 'Sign up for an expedition'. He was redirected to a page labelled 'You are already registered for the Pár Larwèn expedition. What would you like to do?' There were the options such as 'cancel expedition', 'schedule a new expedition', 'change travelling method' and 'reschedule expedition'. Tails clicked on the third option. It showed the options 'make your own way (free)' and 'arrange personal transport'. Tails clicked the second option. He was a bit wary about the sceen. It showed something like:

To use this method to go on the Pár Larwèn expedition, you will need to give your full address (planet, country, city, number) or (planet, latitude, longitude) If you are not sure, you can use UPS technology or (if you know what planet you are on) GPS technology. If you intend on returning without working for a minimum 6 days, the fee is $260,000. If you do not have this much either in an account or on hand, make sure all important things are done first and work this fee off. If you are permanently moving in, please contact Gulliver Conivette here."

"This is an outer space expedition." said Sonic. "It half explains the price but to move in, I'd need to get the gang." Tails clicked the link. It showed 'contact by phone: 332* 6643 6636 7833' and 'arrange migration'.  
"Sonic, could I use the phone?" asked Tails.  
"Sure." said Sonic. "I should round up the gang. Find out if they can handle massive amounts of energy because Knuckles won't go without taking the master emerald with him." Sonic went out followed by a sonic boom. Tails picked up the phone and dialled the number.  
"Gulliver Conivette AKA Seagull C speaking. How may I help you with the Pár Larwèn Expedition?" said a voice with an Australian accent through the phone.  
"Uh..." said Tails. "It's about arranging transport to the expedition."  
"OK. Would you like us to send you a space ship? Hang on a minute. Does this happen to be Miles Prower I'm talking to? What a surprise."  
"You're scaring me." said Tails. He went to hang up the phone.  
"DON'T HANG!" shouted Gulliver on the phone. "I'M SORRY!"  
"I rang because the website said to contact you for permanent residency. That and Sonic asked me to ask you if your ship can withstand a super powerful chaos emerald onboard?"  
"Easy." said Gulliver. "Chaos energy will only make the ship move faster. I guess Knuckles will be coming as well and bringing the master emerald with him."

"How do you know all of this?" asked Tails. "This is just weird."  
"You guys aren't just famous on Mobius you know." replied Gulliver. "Should I send a big one? How many of you are coming?"  
"Sonic's going to bring the whole gang." said Tails. "When is the Expedition?"  
"We're only really waiting on you." stated Gulliver. "Someone by the name Julian Ivo Robotnik also arranged to go as well but with me around, he won't be game to do anything."  
"Tails." said Sonic suddenly. This gave Tails a fright. "What's going on?"  
"Gulliver was just being a tad annoying." said Tails.  
"HEY!" said Gulliver's voice from the phone. "Whether your mouth is near the phone or not, I can still hear you. I am a fox just like you are." Tails shuddered.

"Would you like me to send the ship now?"  
"Yes." said Tails. "Bye." Tails hung the phone up.  
"You were on the phone for about ten minutes." said Sonic.  
"He knows us somehow." said Tails. "Wait, he doesn't even know where we..."  
"INCOMING!" shouted a voice. Knuckles the echidna suddenly ran into the workshop. They looked out the window to see a gigantic space shuttle on the runway Tails had built to land guest planes on. A door opened and out stepped a white fox twice Tails' height. He approached the house.  
"Is that Eggman in the window?" asked Sonic. The white fox knocked on the door.

Sonic answered the door.  
"How many are coming?" asked the fox. His Australian accent caught Tails' attention.  
"That was quick." said Tails.  
"Why is there a spaceship there with Eggman inside it?" asked a female voice. A squirrel came walking in. "Is it the Expedition Explorer?"  
"Sally?" said Sonic. "Where did you come from. I haven't seen you since the big explosion 6 months ago." Sally was wearing a green jacket with matching pants as well as black boots. She carried a camping backpack with a sleeping bag tied to the bottom.  
"Where is everyone else?" asked Tails.  
"I'm the only one who wanted to go." said Sally. "Is this it? Just you, me, Sonic and who is this one?"  
"Knuckles." said the echidna.  
"Well, you brought enough stuff to sink a ship, seriously." said Gulliver. "Is everyone ready to go?"  
"I have to guard the..." began Knuckles.  
"Master emerald I know." said Gulliver. "You can bring it with you as well. The energy will only shorten the journey time." Knuckles walked out.

"The object is far too big to carry around!" Knuckles' voice echoed in. "Also, lately, everything wandering too close to the emerald disintegrates without warning. I nearly lost an eye when I stepped closer to it."  
"The emerald is probably guarding itself." said Gulliver. "Lets go." Tails, Sonic and Sally followed him out. Once outside, they had the chance to get full view of the massive space ship. Knuckles was already inside. Gulliver stood at the door waiting for the last one to board which was Sally. He finally walked aboard, the ramp door closing behind him. The space shuttle immediately flew up into the air and jet launched towards the sky. It travelled faster than the speed of sound creating a sonic boom. Sonic looked out the window and saw only a blur of colour.

"Directly to home planet!" called Gulliver. "These were the last ones."  
"How can we not feel the ship move?" asked Sally.  
"Gravity machine." replied Gulliver. "It keeps the G force constant. The downfall is it is expensive technology. That explains the fee."  
"I did not look it up. I was hitching a ride with Sonic." said Sally. "How much."  
"Two hundred and sixty thousand dollars." explained Gulliver. "Most people work it off because that is a more of a peace-of-mind option than paying."  
"SONIC!" yelled Sally.  
"It wasn't Sonic who rang me up!" exclaimed Gulliver. "It was Tails. He talked about permanent residency."

Tails sat on one of the chairs.  
"Doh! Our stuff!" groaned Tails. "I did not pack anything!"  
"Do not worry, I'll arrange for it to be moved to your new place." said Gulliver. "We will need to find you a block of land before we start the expedition. There is a forty-eight hour gap to allow everyone to prepare."  
"We're coming in for a landing!" said a voice above.  
"How do you feel about camping because we will have to travel on foot?" asked Gulliver.  
"I'm all set." said Sally. "I packed a hell of a huge tent and three sleeping bags."  
"Good." said Gulliver in response. "There is about forty-eight and a half hours exact."

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**This is the first chapter. I will write another chapter soon as I finish it.**

**For those who don't know, any website address in this story like expedition venues is made up. The co.m2 domains are also fictional. M2 is actually Mexican 2 but I changed the name from that to Pár Larwèn because the old name seems rather pathetic given a fictional language I made up called Jendus (yen-dus pronounciation). I will upload the full syntax at .tk when I fix it up.**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please Review. It means a lot to me.**


	2. Settling in

**This took longer than I expected but here it is. Chapter 2 is basically the part where... nah, I won't spoil it. There is a bit of drama in this chapter. If there is a weird part in this chapter, do not point it out in the review, PM me. And one other thing, in response to a Guest review, I will not include other people's OC's. Please do not send requests in reviews and do not use Guest reviews because I delete them. Here is the second chapter of the story. Enjoy.**

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The door ramp opened downwards. Gulliver was the first off.  
"Take some time to get used to the magic atmosphere here." said Gulliver. Tails and Sonic were first off followed by Sally and Knuckles. Knuckles was wearing a brown cowboy hat.  
"Where did you get that hat?" asked Sonic.  
"Robotnik gave it to me in the flight." Knuckles replied. "His attitude has changed."  
"Unusual." said Sonic. "Where to?" Gulliver waved to everyone else who had started getting off.

"Lets go!" said Gulliver. They began to run towards the forest. Tails seemed to be in the lead at first until Sonic sped up.  
"Did I under-estimate your speed?" asked Gulliver. "Lets turn this up a notch. Sally, Knuckles and Tails, catch." he tossed them some blue balls which had the consistency of jelly. The two swallowed them whole. Their running speed instantly and drastically quadrupled. Sonic was half-surprised, half-shocked by this and found he had to sprint at top speed to keep up. They found it hard to sight see at this speed. They found they had to rely on Sonic and Gulliver to help them avoid collisions with trees. Gulliver had a blue smoke trail behind him. They eventually found the sudden speed boost wearing off. They had to slow right down to normal running speed before it wore off completely. Gulliver's Smoke trail faded away when he slowed down.

"Question." puffed Sally. "Can we stop for a rest?" Gulliver suddenly puffed into blue smoke and swished across all of them stopping them instantly. He then reformed in his original position.  
"You just turned to..." began Sonic.  
"Smoke." finished Gulliver. "I can't travel at high speeds without the smoke trail. It can get annoying at times."  
"Those things you gave us..." said Tails.  
"Speed Jelly." said Gulliver. "Only lasts two minutes for one mouthful."  
"What were we doing again?" asked Knuckles.  
"Looking for a block of land." answered Gulliver. "I am thinking about the Mt Saulio hilltop region. A massive block of mountains that is not occupied."

"How far is that from here?" asked Tails.  
"Twelve thousand kilometres from here." said Gulliver.  
"You expect us to run that far?!" asked Sally.  
"In two days, no!" said Gulliver hastily.  
"Do you have teleporting technology here?" asked Tails.  
"Not technology but magic." replied Gulliver. "I myself cannot teleport but I can hyper-jump which is just zooming through the air faster than the speed of light. And yes I could bring anything or anyone with me."  
"Lets go then to save time." said Sonic. "I can't even run that far."  
"OK." said Gulliver. "Everyone hold hands." They obeyed. Gulliver took Sally and Tails' hands. Sonic held Sally's hand and Knuckles held Tails' hand. "OK..." Gulliver seemed to leap without actually moving and the whole lot of them became blue smoke. With a flash and a boom, it was gone from sight. Twelve thousand kilometres north-east, the smoke had appeared and formed back.  
"Uh..." said Sonic. He noticed a nearby viewpoint platform. he walked over to it covering his mouth and hung his head over the railing which led down deep. Sonic let out his lunch. Tails, Knuckles and Sally did the same thing.  
"Sorry." said Gulliver. "I forgot everyone I bring with me vomits every time I hyper-jump."  
"You can..." Sonic was interrupted by another wave of nausea. "... say that again. Yuck."

Once the nausea was gone, the three of them walked towards Gulliver and they began running again until they came upon what looked to be a plane on the ground."  
"They cannot move a wreck so they simply took some of the design features and constructed this plane. The engines are just there for show as you can see."  
"It's modern." said Sally. "It looks so different."  
"Different world." said Gulliver. They walked up to the plane. It was partially buried in the ground so that the door was level. The door was twice the width of the original and showed no signs of belonging to any plane. It had big windows in it. The doors opened in a sliding motion at their approach. Inside was remarkably similar to the original plane except with no pilot controls at the cockpit. Tails looked in there to find out it was a bedroom.

"All of your belongings are in here." said Gulliver. There was a sudden electric spark noise. Gulliver looked to the right to see Tails wiring some device.  
"What is the code for this world?" asked Tails.  
"Six two four two one seven five nine one." said Gulliver. Tails connected some more wires. And then put a cover over them. He grabbed a screwdriver and screwed in the cover. He turned it over and slipped in a jack in an empty slot. It stuck halfway. Tails grabbed a hammer and tapped it all the way in. He then grabbed a few more wires and stuck them in black silicon sitting in a mold.  
"What are you making?" asked Gulliver.  
"GPS." said Tails. "To make it easy to find our way around." He pulled the silicon out of the mold and trimmed off the ends of it. He was careful not to snip the wires. He connected a plug to one end and a connector to the other, He attached them with more black silicon.  
"If they are the only gloves you have got, you're going to have to use them for messy work now because they are covered in filth." said Gulliver.  
"Oops." said Tails. "I did not think of that. I would have used a cloth."  
"Why do you wear them all the time anyway?" asked Gulliver.  
"It's nothing." said Tails. He peeled off his gloves. Sonic instantly began to stare. Tails was uneasy about it so he walked out the door of the plane.  
"Watch out for the dropped nail!" shouted Gulliver. Tails looked where he was stepping and stopped. He was about to tread on a massive nail sticking out of the ground. Gulliver walked up to it and picked it up. He turned it over and stuck it partially into the ground. "OK. Stomp on it. I would do it but I don't have shoes." Tails obeyed and stomped the nail into the ground.

"That's that dealt with." said Gulliver. "OH CRAP!" Gulliver suddenly rushed blew on his fingers. Smoke was coming from them. "Get the shoe you stomped on the nail with off before it melts your foot!" Tails pulled off his shoe and to his horror, the whole thing liquefied and melted with a plume of smoke.  
"Is there another spare pair of shoes anywhere?" asked Tails.  
"It's a good thing you didn't actually touch the nail." said Gulliver. "It has a curse on it. I'll arrange to have Jarrod Hayze dispose of it." Tails and Gulliver walked back inside. Straight away, Tails went towards the cockpit style bedroom. His belongings were put in there. He looked under the bed and groaned.  
"They left the extra pair of shoes behind!" grunted Tails. "Idiots."  
"Don't look at me." said Gulliver. "It was the King C. Melson who moved the belongings over here. He might have taken the spare pair and either put it away in his mansion's basement or got someone to dispose of it." Tails gave him a dirty look.

"What do you want me to do about it?" Gulliver asked him. "If it wasn't him it was definitely Crazy B. Why not just do what I do and not even bother about footwear. It's not important. Doh! It blurted out. I was trying to hold it back but my brain pushed it out of my mouth."  
"In other words, you are a weird one." said Sally.  
"Eccentric!" interjected Gulliver. "So I encourage the quote 'natural look'. No harm in that. The ground's soft and the air is warm." Tails pulled off his other shoe and then peeled off his socks. He wasn't too keen on doing it but he had no choice. He didn't want his socks to get dirty and definitely didn't want to be walking around with only one shoe on.

Tails walked out of his room and sat back at the table he was working at earlier. He slipped on the dirty gloves again and touched the silicon with a clean area. No mark was left. Tails peeled the gloves back off again and grabbed the GPS and its cord. He opened the back and slipped in a computer chip and a cartridge shaped rechargeable battery. He clipped the back on again and plugged the cord in a nearby power point.  
"Not too bad is it?" asked Gulliver. "It'll only take a few minutes to get used to."  
"You are definitely mental." said Tails.  
"You are clearly embarrassed." said Gulliver. "Don't worry. Just relax."  
That statement earned a glare from Tails. "If you think I'm weird, wait 'till you meet Crazy B. He likes to cast content spells all the time." Tails stood up about to walk outside. Gulliver stepped in the way.  
"Wait until the nail is disposed of." said Gulliver sternly. "Speak of the devil. Here comes Jarrod." A raccoon walked past the door and held a hand over the cursed nail. He ran up and knocked on the door. Gulliver stood aside and let him in. Just as the door shut, the nail exploded like a bomb sending shock-waves around the plane. Once it was gone, there was a small crater in the ground. Jarrod walked back out and pushed the dirt ring back into the crater and tapped the top of it.  
"Thanks for that." said Gulliver.  
"Don't mention it." said Jarrod. "That little fox there looks a bit uneasy about something."

"His shoe melted when I told him to stomp the nail into the ground." said Gulliver.  
"Aren't you an idiot?" asked Jarrod. "I'm guessing he has to spend his days here barefoot."  
"I assume so." said Gulliver. "What's the king done with the spare of shoes?"  
"Crazy B got there before he did and turned all the shoes in the wreck into water vapour." said Jarrod.  
"Now that's just typical." said Gulliver. "Crazy B has always been and always will be a lot weirder than me."  
"What is the weirdest thing Crazy B has done?" asked Tails.  
"I cannot name it exactly," began Gulliver. "Occasionally, when he has a few ours alone with a cute animal, he'll – how do I say it? – remove everything covering them up and put them through an extremely powerful content spell. It changed the animal's personality a hell of a lot after putting through a minor electric current."

Tails shuddered at the thought of it.  
"People try to catch him and snap him out of it but he outwits everyone." said Gulliver.  
"I'm off." said Jarrod. "If you find any more nails, do not touch them, contact me right away."  
"I regret asking that now." muttered Tails.  
"Lighten up!" said Gulliver. "Crazy B hasn't been seen for the last twelve months. He has been on the run from Pár Larwèn Guard Police for a long time."  
"If he's on the run, he could be anywhere." said Sally.  
"Are you going to say anything Knuckles?" asked Sonic.  
"I didn't hear a single word of the conversation." said Knuckles.  
"When are we supposed to go on the expedition?" asked Tails.  
"The day after tomorrow." stated Gulliver. "I would be happy if it didn't have to follow a scheduled time, but then again, nobody would be home on time. OH THAT'S RIGHT! You moved permanently. We'll take more time to sight see during the camping."

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**There it is. The real action doesn't come until later in the story. I'll update again soon. Please review.**


	3. Expedition: The first challenge

**Hello again. I have decided to upload another chapter of this story. This is about the first "challenge" of the expedition. This one is a bit weird but it is still good all the same. Enjoy.**

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In the early hours of the morning, Tails was already awake. He hopped out of his bed and looked under it to only see one shoe there half eaten away.  
"You've got to be kidding me." said Tails. He walked out of his cockpit style bedroom. Gulliver was asleep slumped over the kitchen table with an empty beer bottle next to him. Tails held back a chuckle. Sally was sleeping on the couch. She sat up and yawned. She noticed Gulliver's beer bottle.  
"HEY!" she shouted, startling Tails. "I TOLD YOU NO ALCOHOL!"  
"Doh." grunted Gulliver absent-mindedly. He looked over to his right to see the beer bottle. "YIKES! I must have had a wave of depression or something. I normally don't drink. Occasionally I think about my losses and then drink to ease the tension."

"Will you shut up!" shouted Knuckles. He had been sleeping in an armchair on the other side of the room. "I'm trying to sleep here!" He had a bottle of beer on a small table next to the armchair.  
"How...?" Sally trailed off.  
"Gulliver offered me a beer." said Knuckles. "I've never had it so I didn't refuse."  
"There was nothing stopping you from having one." said Gulliver to Sally. "Even Sonic had one." Sonic walked out at that instance. "Of course he was the only one to put the empty bottle in the bin."  
"Enough with the beer already!" snapped Sally. Everyone else burst out laughing.  
"Sonic and Knuckles only had ginger beers which don't have alcohol in them." said Gulliver. "I can't believe you were that gullible."

"You're one to talk." said Sonic. "You believe everything. Hence the name 'Gulliver'." Gulliver instantly pulled a deep frown.  
"Future reference!" yelled Gulliver angrily. "THAT IS OFFENSIVE!" Suddenly, the phone rang. Gulliver grabbed it and made no effort to hide his aggressive mood. "What!?"  
"Hey! You don't talk to the king like that!" said the voice from the phone.  
"Sorry." said Gulliver hastily. "What is it?"  
"We've moved the day of the expedition up one day to give more time for sight-seeing." said the voice. "I hope you can gather your group up and meet me outside in ten minutes. Bye." The voice was replaced by the beep of the dial tone. Gulliver hung up the phone.  
"What did he say?" asked Tails.  
"They've moved up the expedition date to today." answered Gulliver. "Sally, get your camping pack together. We've got nine minutes."  
After nine minutes passed, everyone walked outside the door of the fake aeroplane. A raccoon was standing there dressed in a black robe and wearing a golden watch and a crown on the top of his head.  
"You're showing off." said Gulliver. "Aren't you?  
"To make it obvious to these three who I am." said the raccoon. "King Melson.  
"I'm assigning Jarrod Hayze as your tour guide in this expedition. We'll all meet up at Katherine Lakes. Goodbye." King Melson held a staff in his hand with a diamond in it and it lit up. With a white flash, he and the staff was gone. Gulliver bent down and picked up Tails under his arms.  
"You OK with a piggy back ride?" asked Gulliver. "The track to the forest is gravel and you wouldn't be able to walk on it easily."  
"That means less effort for me." said Tails. Gulliver lowered him to the ground and kneeled low. Tails climbed onto his back and held onto his shoulders. Gulliver secured his legs before standing up again. "If this is because of the lack of shoes, how can you stand walking on gravel?"

"When you have psychic powers, you step on gravel rocks, they flatten like water." said Gulliver. "You on the other hand... It'd be painful for you." They all began walking on the gravel track. It sloped down the mountain. Tails looked around. The trees here were the same as the usual trees on Mobius except that there were a few unusual ones in places. As soon as the gravel track ended, Sally, Knuckles, Sonic, Jarrod and Gulliver found themselves walking on a soft dirt track. Gulliver kneeled down to allow Tails to get off his back. Tails stretched out once on the ground.  
"Katherine Lakes should be straight along this dirt track." said Gulliver. "I'll stay at the back." They soon began running along the track. It twisted around a few trees. They came to a stop at a rickety bridge. "That is not good. I hate these things. Much better to fly over it than use that rotting old thing."

"I can easily fly over but I can only hold two at once." said Tails. He spun his tails and flew above Sonic and Knuckles. They held onto each other as Tails flew over the massive ditch the bridge crossed. Tails dared not to look down. As he approached the other side, exhaustion hit him hard. He puffed. Sonic saw this coming and flicked himself the rest of the way. Knuckles did the same thing. Tails lied down on the dirt track on the other side. Gulliver turned into smoke and flew over the ditch in an instant. There he reformed. Jarrod seemed to disappear and then appear right next to him.  
"That's that obstacle out of the way." said Gulliver. He bent down and picked Tails up again. He held him in his arms. "I am sure you would have rather have gotten a ride across yourself. Flying with a load is not easy." They walked on, Gulliver still carrying Tails. Soon they approached a dense area of trees followed by a humongous lake.

"That didn't take too long." said Gulliver. "Wonder what we're doing here."  
"Your first challenge in this expedition!" called out the familiar voice of King Melson. "Each group must try to get a coloured ring out of the lake. The winner is the group with the ring in possession and full awareness. The water has magic mermaids."  
"Blue for us." said Gulliver. They got to the waters edge "Sonic and Knuckles, I doubt you would be able to get the coloured ring. That leaves Tails and Sally.  
"I'm wearing a full on camo suit." said Sally. "I hadn't anticipated that this would involve swimming."  
"Tails will go and I'll get him out if something goes wrong." said Gulliver. "Foxes are usually strong swimmers."  
"GO!" called the King. Tails took a deep breath and dived into the lake. He could see all reeds in the lake. He hadn't gone very far when he needed to go back for air. He swam towards the surface. He had almost reached the top when a pair of hands grabbed hold of him by the waist. He panicked instantly.  
"Tails is in trouble." said Sally trying to remain calm. Gulliver kneeled down.  
"Looks like the young fox has mermaids after him already." said the king. Gulliver lifted Tails out of the water and blew in his face briefly.  
"The water has a magic property about it preventing you from drowning." said Gulliver. "Holding your breath and going back up to the surface always grabs the attention of mermaids. When you go back in there, forget worrying about breath and worry about the mermaids." Gulliver lowered Tails back into the water. Tails looked around to see the mermaids had moved onto the others in the water. Tails held his breath out of instinct as he swam towards the bottom.

This proved problematic because his breath made him slightly buoyant. Tails realised how far he had gotten when he needed air again. He tried to ignore it but soon, he took a big gasp. At once, the need for air left him as if he was in the surface. _Weird. How does that happen?_ Tails continued swimming towards the bottom of the lake. He then saw it, a blue shining ring. Tails grabbed it and made his way to the surface. He kept looking around. So far, no mermaids were in sight. As he got close to the surface of the water, he felt hands grab him again. This time he tried to push them off. The mermaids were trying to pull him into their arms. He kicked at their arms at every attempt. Eventually, he was able to get up to the surface. He swam towards the shallow part of the water and soon he was almost out. Gulliver blew into his face again.  
"Will..." Tails was interrupted by water rushing out of his mouth. "Will you quit doing that?"

"The mermaids usually leave warm control spells on everyone they touch." explained Gulliver. "Blowing cold air into your face gets rid of it. Its the only thing that can be done. For this reason, everyone has ice fans. I don't use them because of hypothermia."  
"The challenge is over!" called out the king. "The one most aware with the ring... Tails."  
"Usually, if he control spell kicks in, it makes target of the spell stop swimming, allowing the mermaids to get right at them." said Gulliver. "By you kicking out at them, you delayed the time for it to take effect. Lucky."

"Feel free to swim around in the lakes. As long as we are ready to leave this place at 1pm." said King Melson. He approached Tails. "Of course, your will to not give in helped you get out of the water. You will get your reward at 12:30pm."  
"Well, with the challenge over, who's going in the lake?" asked Gulliver. "I'll just get out of this suit and put on my swimmers." He walked behind a big tree and with a blue puff of smoke, he walked out wearing a pair of swimming trunks. "Going in again Tails?" asked Gulliver. He walked towards the lake and dived in. Tails slowly walked in. It was slightly warmer than when the challenge was on. Tails made sure to stay at the surface. Gulliver's head showed up after a few seconds.  
"Where are all the mermaids?" asked Tails.  
"Be careful when asking that." said Gulliver. "They are probably just under water around here."

Some hands grabbed Tails around his midsection. He didn't protest because he knew there was no reason to. A few mermaids poked their heads out of the water. They were like ladies with fish tails instead of legs.  
"Hey Tails!" called out King Melson from the bank of the lake. "I think the mermaids like you!" Tails stuck his head underwater and looked around. Sure enough he was surrounded entirely by at least twenty mermaids. Gulliver was moving away from Tails to make room for more of them to show up. Tails began feeling awkward about this and made an attempt to swim to shore. The mermaid right behind him began tickling him. Uh oh._ This won't end well._ Tails covered his sides with his arms to stop it. The mermaids pulled him under the water.

"GULLIVER!" yelled Sally. "You could at least have the courtesy to keep the mermaids away from Tails." Gulliver ignored her and dived underwater again. There were a few raccoons I the lake now. Jarrod tried to make his way over to Tails.  
"What are you doing?" asked another raccoon. "Let them be. They don't appreciate their fun being spoilt by moving Tails away." Jarrod groaned but obeyed.  
"Gull!" Tails tried to call out but all that came out of his mouth were bubbles. He suddenly found himself unable to move. This was accompanied by a warm sensation. The mermaids were all massaging him underwater. Gulliver stood by watching with amusement. Tails' uneasy feeling was suddenly gone. Tails closed his eyes.  
"Hey!" shouted Sally from the shore at the mermaids. "You've had your fun, let him out!"  
"It's no use." said the king. "He's already lost his awareness for what's going on. All he's thinking about is the feeling of the spells and of course, the massages. Tails is pretty cute, you gotta admit."  
"What time is it?" asked Sally.  
"Twelve o'clock." replied the raccoon. He was the only one apart from Sally, Knuckles and Sonic who were not amused at what the mermaids were doing to Tails.

The raccoon put two fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly. A mermaid surfaced.  
"Bring Tails back up here please." said King Melson. The mermaid dived and a short moment later, Tails was placed on his back on the shore. He was in a deep sleep.  
"Now we have to wait until he wakes up." said the raccoon king. He pulled Tails further away from the lake to remove the temptation for the mermaids.  
"Why did they go after him like that?" asked Sally.  
"It's the same thing as when a human sees a very cute dog." said the king. "That is just their way of patting him in a way. They are the weirdest known kind of mermaid alive in this whole planet. They also hang around boats and beaches. The problem was that Gulliver let the mermaids get to him instead of keeping him out of the water. They definitely tickled him in there."

"How much more of this is left to be endured?" asked Sonic. "I'm not sure Tails wants to spend the rest of the day asleep."  
"Am I sitting in slime?" asked Tails suddenly before blowing the water out.  
"Side effect sensation." said King Melson. "It'll go away after a while. GULLIVER!" Everyone turned in the direction of where Gulliver was. He had just kissed a mermaid. Tails, Sonic, Knuckles and Sally cracked up laughing.  
"What was that all about?" asked Sally when Gulliver walked ashore.  
"I am not answering that." said Gulliver. If you could see under his fur, he would be blushing madly.  
"Of course, now is 12:29pm." said King Melson. He looked at his wrist watch and counted off the remaining seconds. As soon as that last minute was up, he nodded. "Of course, the challenges are not over yet. If you like, you could continue participating in the challenges. Since this challenge wasn't a difficult one, the reward is not a huge one." He tilted the staff forward. A golden light briefly rained down on Tails. "Simply, in Katherine lakes, no transition side effect when going from water to air and you can go underwater anywhere now."

"Where are we going next?" asked Tails.  
"That is something that would ruin the surprise." said the king raccoon. "You'll know when we arrive." He suddenly disappeared with a bright flash of white light.  
"Gulliver." said Tails. "Do you know where we are to meet up?"  
"Of course." replied Gulliver. "The expedition route is quite a long one. Luckily, I know where everything is by heart. Is everyone ready to go?!" Everyone replied with a 'yes'. Gulliver led Tails, Sally, Sonic, Knuckles and Jarrod back to the trail they walked on. They continued along the direction of the trail around the outside of the lake and towards deep forest. It got darker as they went further in because of the canopy of tree branches.

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**What did you think. This one is a lot longer than the previous. I find they get longer each time. There is a new poll on my profile. After reviewing please have a look at it.**

**When reviewing, I would appreciate you to be a little bit more specific (what parts you liked and what you didn't like, stuff like that) but then again, write whatever you like as long as it isn't a flame. I leave a message at the top of each chapter to avoid these.**


	4. Challenges 2 and 3

**Sorry this took a while. I've been struck with inspiration for another story thanks to the author who wrote "Anthro Anthology Tails". I hope you enjoy this chapter. It has reference to a few buses I made up. Enjoy.**

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"Hey look at that!" said Jarrod, trying to contain his excitement. Gulliver looked in the direction he was pointing. It was a cave with a radiant blue glow coming out the entrance.  
"That was quick." said Gulliver. "I thought the cave was not that close."  
"Is that where the second challenge is?" asked Tails. "I had hoped we would find something to eat here. I'm as hungry as a pig."  
"I've got that covered." said Sally. She took her backpack off and opened the zip. She pulled out two plastic containers. Each was filled with four chicken and salad wraps. Sally handed out the wraps leaving two behind. Gulliver waved his hands over the containers and instantly, they were full of wraps again.

"How did you do that?" asked Sally, shoving the containers back into her backpack.  
"I don't know." said Gulliver. "Did you notice the new wraps looked exactly the same as the two that were left behind? I can clone food." He ate away at his wrap. "Mm. Humus, delicious. EVEN BETTER, Mayonnaise!" Everyone else ate their wraps before walking towards the cave. Gulliver's mouth was slightly open as they walked inside the cave. Tails was the last in, he came in flying.  
"The ground's cold." complained Tails when Gulliver gave him a questioning look.  
"It's not that bad." replied Gulliver. "It takes a minute to get used to it." A sudden flash of white caught their attention. King Melson had appeared on the far end of the cave. There was a sort of pool in the cave. It was twenty metres wide and a hundred metres long. It was a deep pool.

"Excuse me." said a young voice from behind them. A little wolf pup with grey and white fur walked out. His fur was soaked. Evidently, he had been in the lake.  
"I didn't know you were there Jathas." said Gulliver. "Yikes! What happened this time?"  
"I spent the last hour or so hiding." said Jathas. He was evidently upset. "Fergus and Dale beat me up again. They just hate me for no apparent reason. I wish someone would kill me at times." Tears spilled down his cheeks.  
"We've got room for more." said Gulliver.  
"Worst of all, dad couldn't care less." said Jathas. Gulliver kneeled down and pulled Jathas into a hug. His face showed worry and horror.

"I tried contacting the guardians but they said there was too little evidence to move you away from them." said Gulliver. He pulled out a camera and took a photo of Jathas. Around his right eye was swollen and Gulliver noticed a trail of blood dripping down from his arm. Gulliver went wide eyed before taking a photo of that as well.  
"That is disgusting of them." muttered Gulliver under his breath.  
"What's the drama here?" asked the king. A crowd had surrounded the group. The king raccoon sat on the opposite side of the cave. He suddenly disappeared.  
The raccoon then reappeared close to the group startling everyone. He looked at the injured wolf pup. His jaw dropped slightly and worry washed over his face.  
"Do you know who did this to you?" asked King Melson.  
"My brothers." said Jathas.  
"Poor thing." replied the raccoon. He pulled out a mobile phone.  
"Casualties already?" asked the voice on the phone.  
"Just get down here, it has nothing to do with the challenges. They are harmless." He put away the phone shortly before a raccoon walked up wearing a white coat. He had a stethoscope and other gear inside a suitcase. He had a red cross symbol on his coat.  
"Jathas?" he said. "I don't know if you know me. I'm Dr. Chris James." He lied Jathas on the ground and took out the stethoscope. He listened to the heartbeat before looking closely at the injuries.

"Looks like he was mauled." said Chris. He pulled out a syringe. Everyone took a step back. Jathas of course panicked. "Calm down, I will not hurt you." The raccoon popped off the lid of the needle and tilted it up to get out any bubbles. He gently injected the contents into Jathas' good arm. Once done, Chris put the cap back on and put the syringe back into the suitcase. The effects of the needle took hold almost right away. In twenty seconds, Jathas was in a deep sleep. Chris looked at the injuries again. He moved aside some fur and found a deep gash. Chris carried him out of the cave over his shoulder.  
"Is he going to be alright?" asked Tails.  
"I think so." said Gulliver in response. "Dale and Fergus will be in for it soon, that's for sure. Vicious mongrels, only ever think of themselves."

"Ahem!" coughed King Melson. "The challenge." he darted back to his original position on the other side of the pool. "Your challenge here is to find your way through the obstacles in the water. You cannot rely on sight or smell to find them so you will have to improvise. The water from this pool is the same stuff as in that lake so don't worry about drowning. First one to the other side, wins. This is the last aquatic challenge for this expedition until the final challenge in two days. You can use whatever as long as you do not take anything into the water. If you use something that is not part of you in one way or another, you will be disqualified from this challenge. Get ready, set... GO!" Lanes revealed themselves with coloured ropes. Several raccoons, foxes and wolves were in the challenges as well as Tails. Tails had no trouble getting in. He felt his head bump something. He felt around and found a hole in the centre of an invisible ring. He squeezed through it and made sure to keep his hands in front of him." Tails found another invisible obstacle. It was a spike sticking out. He went to the surface, swam over it and then dived. He soon found his way blocked. He pushed on the invisible blockage and immediately, this sent him forward almost three quarters of the way forward. Tails came across moving side walls now. They kept moving and blocking his way. Tails timed them and swam through.  
He suddenly found another wall. He looked up to see he was at the finish line. He climbed out of the pool. He looked around to see everyone else still half-way obviously having gone over the wall instead of pushing through it.  
"You are quite intelligent aren't you?" said the king. He swished a hand and all blockages seemed to vanish. Everyone else was soon at the end.  
"You obviously didn't think to push on the wall to see if it was a door did you?" asked King Melson. Everyone shook their heads. "I didn't make it easy but somehow, Tails did it again. Of course the reward for winning again, I haven't thought of it yet. I could easily carry it over to make the final bigger... No." The raccoon thought for a whole five minutes before speaking. "I'll work it into the next challenge. I'll see you all at Jack Meadow at the end of the forest in two hours. Bye." As he disappeared, The lanes vanished, the middle area where Tails had been in covered itself with a sort of bridge. Sonic, Gulliver, Sally and Knuckles were first onto the bridge followed by Jarrod and then everyone else.

Gulliver lifted Tails up into his arms. They walked out the other end of the cave where the forest was once again visible. They kept on walking on for ages. It took an hour before the trees began to thin out and soon they came to the other end of the forest altogether. Gulliver lowered Tails to the ground. On the ground two hundred metres away was a long patch of the weirdest overgrown grass they had ever seen. Sonic could barely believe his eyes. The grass patch was one hundred metres wide and over a kilometre long. The grass was literally blue, the same shade that Sonic was.  
"Good afternoon." said the familiar voice of King Melson. "The last but longest and possibly one of the most difficult challenges for today, Jack grass. Your challenge is to find a way across it without falling asleep in it. This is not a rule so you don't have to follow it. Flying, speed dashing and digging through or under is prohibited. Methods such as controlling your breathing and running or walking speed may help you out. First one to the other end will win. Good luck. Ready, set GO!" The raccoon disappeared out of sight as everyone took off at a running speed.

As soon as Tails had run for twenty seconds, he began to feel unusually tired. It was evidently the grass. Tails instantly remembered something the king had said. 'Controlling your breathing and running or walking speed may help you out'. Tails slowed himself right down and slowed his breathing. He made sure to take a breath only when he really needed it. This took him halfway before he fell down. He looked around to see everyone else had fallen down one hundred metres behind. Tails ignored the Jack grass-induced drowsiness and forced himself onto his feet. He walked on slowly. He yawned about four times before he slumped down again. NO! Get up! You can do it Tails! Tails reluctantly forced himself onto his feet again. He felt extremely weak. He continued walking forward for a few more minutes before finally collapsing completely.

At the other end of the patch, King Melson stood there watching. Tails was in a deep sleep now, oblivious he had actually made it. He was right on the end of the grass. He picked Tails up and moved him away from the Jack grass. Everyone who had been watching, had followed Tails along via the sides of the Jack grass.  
"He made it." stated Gulliver. He was half surprised, half in awe. "I didn't think he could make it. He should only be asleep for a few more minutes." at that moment, Tails stirred and opened his eyes. He looked up to see he was in the king raccoon's arms. King Melson lowered Tails to the regular green grass covered ground.  
"Did I win?" asked Tails.  
"Yes you did." said the king. He tilted the staff forward that he carried. Tails felt himself lift up into the air slightly. He was then lowered in a standing position. "The challenge you went through is the most difficult you will face until the final challenge. Until then, here..." Golden light rained down on Tails again. "You will now be able to go up to a month without sleep when necessary and go twice as long without eating or drinking anything. If you get stuck somewhere, anyone looking for you will have a few weeks extra time to find you. The final is going to be a lot more difficult."

"It's always worth it in the end." said Gulliver. "Tomorrow, there are two challenges in Nottino City. These are not really relevant much to the final challenge though. More of a warm-up."  
"When and how do we get there?" asked Tails.  
"We go via Gambrielle station." said Gulliver. "Nottino City is twelve hours away."  
"Train." added Sonic. "Where are we now?"  
"West of North Saulio." said Gulliver. "The bus there is not exactly the best option but it's the easiest way." They walked in the opposite direction to the setting sun. After a few minutes they came to a bus station with the sign '145 North Saulio'. A bus with a pentagram logo on the grill had just pulled up. The route-table showed 'Mt Saulio' above 'Saulio Bus Services'. The bus looked almost exactly like a Setra S215UL. It was white with the same bus company all over it.

"Setra provided the bodywork for this thing and Tamio provided the engine and logo." said Gulliver. They boarded the bus and sat at the front.  
"Wise to sit here if you get bus-sick." said Gulliver. The door slid closed and the bus jumped forward. For a bus, it was abnormally fast. The driver wasn't happy driving it.  
"I prefer the Mercedes-Benz O305 and O405 over this thing." said the driver. "This thing is built for the 6615 timetable. Five minutes to travel twenty kilometres."  
"That explains the speed." said Tails. The driver put his foot on the brake and stopped at a church. The door slid open and let a few people walk on-board including a priest. The bus door slid shut again and the bus shot forward.  
"I hate these things!" grunted the priest. "Prefer the CAMO."  
"I don't blame you there." said Gulliver. "They designed this for route 6615."  
"I prefer the Volvo 9900 myself." said another person.

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**This one is not the longest I've written. Please Review.**


	5. Evil on a train

**I've finally updated. This chapter is a bit short but that shouldn't matter too much. I decided to make something bad happen to Tails so no flames please. Message for BearValley3365: To review this story, get yourself an account and log in. I do like to reply to my reviews. I just delete guest reviews regardless of how good they are because I cannot reply to them. DON'T REVIEW ANNONYMOUSLY PLEASE!**

**The end notes are on the next chapter because I decided to upload two. Enjoy these chapters.**

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The bus eventually screeched to a halt at a train station.  
"This is us." said Gulliver. He, Sally, Knuckles, Sonic, Tails and Jarrod got off the bus. The door slid shut behind them. The bus shot forward almost like a rocket before skidding to a stop and turning left.  
"They usually assign the Mercedes-Benz buses to this route." said Gulliver. There was a magnificent steam locomotive parked at the train station platform. "Something of a wonder. The Igloo Express, the fastest steam train on city going tracks. It's named because of it's design." The cab was the shape of an Igloo. The carriages were split into 6-person cabins. They all sat in one cabin. Sonic was only sitting for five minutes before becoming bored.  
"Is there anything to do in here?" asked Sonic.  
"Sorry." said Gulliver. "Not on this train. I luckily brought my SnakePC with me." Gulliver withdrew a laptop with a snake logo on it. He opened it and powered it on.

A sudden voice made them all jump.  
"I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE HERE!" shouted the voice. "WHERE IS THAT DIAMOND?" Tails noticed a glint of light in the luggage rack and flew into the air with his tails. He pulled down a blue diamond. He went to walk out of the cabin but Gulliver grabbed his arm.  
"Don't go out there!" warned Gulliver. "That voice was John Kendall looking for the diamond he left on the train. If he sees you holding it, he'll assume you stole it. Put it back where you found it." Tails obeyed and returned the diamond. The train suddenly jolted as it moved forward. The sound of the whistle could be heard echoing throughout the train. Gulliver logged the computer in and then passed it down to Tails. The operating system on the computer was user friendly so it didn't take Tails long to figure out how to use it.

The cabin door was suddenly opened and an angry looking wolf stormed in. He was followed by a jet black wolf cub and a brown and white one.  
"Do you know where the diamond is?" asked the big wolf. Gulliver and Jarrod said a quick 'nope' but Tails pointed to where he had found the diamond. Gulliver grabbed his arm and pulled it back down quickly. The wolf reached up and took down the diamond. "Someone has been touching it!"  
"Make yourself scarce!" exclaimed Jarrod in panic. Gulliver grabbed the laptop and the whole lot fled the cabin. They went towards the couplings and climbed the ladder to the roof of the train. Tails by luck was the last one.  
"Come on!" exclaimed Gulliver. Tails was not quick enough. A skylight in the top of the carriage just behind Tails suddenly flicked open and strong hands grabbed one of his tails. It was John Kendall. After giving Tails a sniff, he literally threw him off the train. Tails spun his tails to try to break his fall and barely slowed down enough to see a spiky plant nearby.  
Back on the train Gulliver and the others hyper-jumped to the driving cab.  
"Black Flag!" exclaimed Gulliver. "Black and red!" The driver slammed on the breaks.  
"Flag?" asked Sonic.  
"Black is on-board danger and red is 'somebody has fallen off the train'." replied Gulliver. Once the train had stopped, Gulliver, Sonic, Sally, Knuckles and Jarrod leaped out of the train and went back along the track to where Tails had been thrown off. They had a long way to go as the train had travelled over a hundred kilometres since Tails was thrown off.

Just before Gulliver called the red and black flag, Tails had just landed on the ground and saw the train driving off.  
"No!" cried Tails, seeing the train go. He tried running to chase after it but had no chance of catching up with it. He narrowly avoided several trees before receiving a sharp pain in his left arm and lower leg. He looked to see he had brushed against a cactus and got cut on the spikes. "OW!" He knew there was no way anyone could possibly help him in the situation he was in. He limped away from the cactus and began walking away from the track as well. It was hopeless. At that point, tears had began spilling down his cheeks. He continued to limp on in the dirt covered plain ahead.

Gulliver tracked the direction of which way Tails went.  
"He would have tried to chase after the... OH..." Gulliver stopped when he found a blood trail leading from a cactus. He followed the trail. Tails suddenly began feeling queasy and dizzy. He began to hear echoed calls as well.  
"Tails!" it called. Tails went to turn around but he collapsed. His vision had began to brighten and blur. Gulliver popped into view along with Sally, Jarrod and Sonic.  
"Tails!" called Gulliver but it sounded muffled. Tails passed out; he had lost almost half of his blood.

Tails opened his eyes and then noticed annoying beep sounds. It went beep-beep-beep. There was one every second. He then realised he was in a hospital ward. He sat up. A raccoon walked into the ward. The ward was quite small and only had one bed in it which Tails lied upon. The raccoon rushed up to Tails.  
"Don't sit up!" exclaimed the raccoon. Tails recognised him as Chris James. Tails lied back down again. He smoothly slid a hand over bandages on Tails' left arm and then down the bandage on his leg. A tickling sensation spread over him momentarily. Tails giggled. Chris began peeling off the bandage. The cut that was there previously was now gone as if it never was there.  
"You are going to need to drink this." said Chris, holding up a small medicine cup filled with clear liquid. Tails took it, sat up and took a sip from it. It tasted horrible.  
"Yuck!" groaned Tails under his breath. He forced himself to drink it down. Chris lifted Tails out of the bed after detaching everything from him that measured his heartbeat.  
"Where is Gulliver?" asked Tails. His question was answered when he was outside the ward. Chris passed Tails over to him. "Where are we?"  
"We're in Nottino city." replied Gulliver. "The challenges earlier today were called off. You were in there since last night."  
"I just remember being sick before I passed out." said Tails  
"That would be from shock." replied Gulliver. "You passed out from losing blood. Had I not found your trail of blood, you probably would have died."  
"Why did John Kendall throw me off the train like that?" asked Tails  
"You touched the diamond. That is why Jarrod said to us to make ourselves scarce. John Kendall is likely to face the death penalty."

"What about the two vicious siblings?" asked Tails.  
"They will probably be given psychiatric help." said Gulliver. "Lets go to the tent. Tomorrow is the day of the final challenge."


	6. The final Challenge

In the morning, everyone in the tent was awoken by a loud bang. This was followed by a shout.  
"Everybody up! You have half an hour to get something to eat before the challenge starts!"  
"Doesn't he let anyone sleep?" muttered Sonic in the tent.  
"It's 7am." said Gulliver. "He's given everyone until 7:30 to have breakfast. Let's get up and go." They went out and met up with Jarrod who had been cooking bacon and eggs on a barbecue. He put out the plates which consisted of bacon and egg muffins.  
"What is the final challenge?" asked Tails.  
"A combination of the challenges you did two days ago and a bit more." said Gulliver. "It is much harder than it seems." They ate up the muffins and headed to where the challenge was. King Melson was already there.

"For the final challenge, you will start off going over the 500 metre patch of Jack grass. Most of you collapsed at 500 metres. Then you grab the crystal cube of your colour and take it through the three kilometres of water. There are mermaids and invisible obstacles throughout that part. At the end of it there will be a slot for you to put the cube into. Ready... Go!" Tails was the first to run ahead. He slowed right down as soon as he reached the Jack grass patch. This grass was not mowed down like the other patch. It came up to Tails' elbows. Tails held his breath and walked through it. He had gone halfway through the patch when he felt faint. He forced himself onwards regardless of how tired the grass made him. He finally reached the end when he fell down. He crawled out of the grass. Immediately, the effects of the grass began wearing off. Tails stood up and looked at what was in front of him. It was an opening filled with water one square metre big.

"Tails!" called Gulliver from a distance. "You go for the blue crystal cube! Go!" Tails took a deep breath before getting into the square opening. As soon as his head was under it, it closed up. Tails swam towards the bottom. It was a while before he reached the bottom. He finally spotted it. The cube had a glow to it. Tails grabbed it. It was about the size of a golf ball. To tails, it was more like the size of a dodge ball. Tails started swimming in the same direction as he went across the jack grass. It was clear for about two hundred metres. He took a glance behind him. He jumped in fright to find about three mermaids behind him.  
'Not now.' thought Tails. 'I want to finish this.' He continued swimming until he felt hands massaging him. He ignored it and kept on swimming. He came to the first obstacle: a ring hole. Tails squeezed himself through it. He then came up to a variety of twisted nets and other unusual shapes. This type persisted over two thirds of the way. Once out, he came to a wall. He pushed on it and it moved him forward ten metres. He still had about a hundred metres to go and the mermaids had somehow gone around all the obstacles. They went straight for him as ahead was clear.  
'Just a bit more to go.' thought Tails. He kept swimming until he found a slot on the floor. The crystal cube fit in it snugly. A door opened up above him. He swam to the surface finally. As he reached it, the mermaids grabbed hold of him. Tails pushed them off and grabbed the edge of the surface. Once his head was out, he saw where he was. Gulliver was standing over the square hole. He reached down and put lifted Tails out of the water.  
"That was a big surprise!" exclaimed Gulliver, trying to contain his excitement. "Everyone else has only just gotten into the aquifer. Held up in the Jack grass they were." King Melson also stood at the finish point.  
"Congratulations." said King Melson. "You made it through the final, a sign you can resist the effects of some magic. Now what next..." he clapped once and everyone else who was in the aquifer appeared out of thin air.

"As you are probably aware, Tails has won!" announced the king. Tails had become aware of everyone staring at him and slipped off to the side. He wasn't used to such attention.  
"I only really went into the challenges for something to do." said Tails. "I think I'll just go back to building planes."  
"I see what the issue is." mumbled the raccoon. "Crowds. OK." The raccoon put forth the staff containing the magic diamond on top of it.  
'Not again.' thought Tails. 'Not in front of everyone.' Without thinking, he took off back towards the camp-site.  
"How did he seem to be oblivious to everything before the first challenge and then expected something now?" asked King Melson. He scratched his head before Gulliver, along with Knuckles, Sally, Sonic and Jarrod took off following Tails.

Back at the camp-site, Tails waited inside the tent.  
"I can't help thinking he would do something very stupid to me if I stayed." said Tails. "The two physical form altering spells he cast after two of the challenges... Nobody saw anything happen but I felt it. It was disturbing."  
"The fur on the back of my neck is standing up..." said Gulliver. "Lets pack everything up." with a click of a finger, everything instantly folded itself up and appeared in the bags. Gulliver turned into blue smoke and surrounded the group. At that instant, there was a loud crack as everyone turned into the smoke as well and disappeared into thin air. At the fake plane crash, the smoke puff had appeared and then replaced itself in the form of Gulliver, Sonic, Jarrod, Knuckles, Tails and Sally.  
"He lied to me." said Gulliver angrily. "He said there wouldn't be challenges like this replacing the expedition. I just realised it just now!"

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**What did you think? The challenges are over and the real action is about to begin. Please review (not annonymously please).**


	7. Post Challenge Madness

**This story ends on a cliff-hanger here. I will post Sonic the Hedgehog: Pár Larwèn part 2 or another title depending on the ideas. Enjoy the final chapter for part 1.**

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"What happened back there?" asked Sonic.  
"I do not know." said Gulliver. They walked back outside the fake plane. The sky had gone black with clouds as it began to pour rain. "This rain is unusually heavy for this area." They went back inside. Gulliver turned on the TV and the news reporter (an orange fox dressed in a suit) appeared on screen with the weather map behind him.  
"Right now a massive surge cell has covered most of the district areas of Saulio." said the reporter on TV. "In fact, the cloud has covered about a third of the country and it doesn't look like it will be going anywhere. Now to the district country of Jendia to the far east... GOSH, there's another one!"

"Does this happen often?" asked Sonic.  
"We only get global storms like this once every three hundred years." said Gulliver. "The last time, there was flooding hundreds of metres deep. But then again, this may not be global storms. It may just be a stubborn pair of overgrown super-cells." At that instant, the power suddenly cut out. The TV screen went black and the lights went out. Gulliver rushed outside. The power-lines had been ripped apart by an F4 tornado. Suddenly, a hailstone the size of a basketball hit Gulliver in the head. This bounced off but knocked Gulliver out cold. In panic, Sonic, Sally, Jarrod and Knuckles grabbed a limb each and carried Gulliver away from the fast approaching tornado. Tails followed. Another hailstone was sent flying. They tried to dodge it but Tails was hit in the head as well.

"AYA SATA!" screamed Jarrod at the top of his lungs. With a white flash, King Melson was there in an instant.  
"Oh my god..." said the stunned raccoon. "Tails and Gulliver both knocked out... SHIT!" he dodged another hailstone. This one was the size of a car engine. "WHY ARE THEY SO BIG!?"  
"What happened?" groaned Gulliver. He stood up. His memory quickly came back to him before looking down at the knocked out figure of Tails.  
"THE HAILSTONE'S ARE GETTING BIGGER! RUN FOR IT!" shouted King Melson. Gulliver lifted up Tails and they all fled the road. The hailstones suddenly stopped falling. A golden light shone through the clouds. Suddenly, with an exploding flash, the light engulfed the clouds. The clouds changed to regular storm clouds and the tornadoes disappeared. In the middle of the yard was a white fox much alike Gulliver except with green eyes and he was wearing a brown robe.  
"Calledon?" asked Gulliver, Jarrod and King Melson simultaneously.  
"That's the third time rogue weather has interrupted my day." said Calledon. "I don't mind a good thunderstorm but not hail and tornadoes! That's ridiculous! You're welcome!" he disappeared with a puff of blue smoke. The smoke twirled into a tight ball before vanishing.  
"He's still old-school isn't he?" asked King Melson. "I'm going to clean up the mess."  
He tilted the staff he held towards the ripped up power-lines and they instantly fixed themselves as if they were never damaged. Gulliver, Sally, Knuckles and Sonic went inside the fake aeroplane (Gulliver was still carrying Tails). Jarrod went with King Melson.  
"Where's Jarrod going?" asked Sonic.  
"He's going home." replied Gulliver. Tails suddenly opened his eyes and groaned softly.  
"My head hurts." he groaned. Gulliver lied Tails onto the lounge and began massaging his head.  
"Chris James is expert at this sort of thing." said Gulliver. "Massaging is the best I can do for you right now." Soon, the throbbing pain in Tails' head subsided. Tails stood up and went into his cockpit-style bedroom. He was about to climb into his bed when Gulliver picked him up. Tails didn't bother struggle.

"You going to bed now?" asked Gulliver. "Dinner is only in an hour. If you are just cold, I'll turn the heater on." Gulliver carried Tails back out into the lounge-room. He lowered him onto the carpet rug. He closed an internal door hiding the glass front doors and walking over to an air-conditioner on the wall. It had no buttons on it and had no remote.  
"How are you going to use that?" asked Sally. Gulliver held a hand up at the air-conditioner. The vents opened and warm air blew out. Tails moved so it was directly on him.  
"About the expedition..." began Tails.  
"It was interrupted." said Gulliver. "Because of that, I've decided to axe what everyone would owe me. You would've gotten the expedition for free anyway." Gulliver walked out of the lounge-room and into the kitchen.

As the hour passed, Tails sat on the rug with his back to the reverse-cycle air-conditioner. Tails looked out the window. The sky was black with clouds and the rain was pouring down like a waterfall.  
"I hope it doesn't flood." said Tails.  
"It won't." replied Gulliver. As time passed, Gulliver walked out with two plates of chilli dogs and two plates of macaroni and cheese. Gulliver passed one plate of macaroni to Sally and one to knuckles.  
"Knuckles said he didn't want chili-dogs." said Gulliver.  
"How did you know not to give me any?" asked Sally. Gulliver showed an old newspaper with a photo of Sally suffering Anaphylaxis captioned 'Sally acorn's allergic reaction to the chilli sauce challenge'.

"It's the oil in the chilli." said Sally. "I didn't even know I was allergic to chilli until someone made me swallow a tablespoon of chilli sauce. The smell of it gave me headaches prior to that but I didn't think anything of it."  
"The smell of walnuts give me a headaches." said Tails.  
"A majority of foxes are allergic to walnuts." explained Gulliver. "I can't stand them. I like peanuts though."  
"All this talk about nuts makes me crave them." groaned Sally. "Change the..." She was interrupted by a loud and sudden bang. A bolt of lightning had struck a tree but it couldn't ignite due to the rain.  
"I wasn't expecting that." said Gulliver shakily. "I almost messed my pants."  
"What pant- oh." said Sonic. Gulliver was wearing pants; a black pair. After finishing the macaroni and cheese and chilli-dogs, Gulliver took the plates out. Tails went into his cockpit-style room and got into his bed. It felt cold at first until his body heat warmed the blankets. He pulled the blanket up and let himself drift into a peaceful sleep. In the morning, it was still raining. Tails yawned and sat up. In the lounge-room, Sally sat there with a mobile phone, her fingers frantically pushing the buttons while on the lounge.

Gulliver came out of the kitchen with two bowls of porridge. He put them on the table. Tails and Sally sat down at the table and began eating their porridge. Gulliver came out again but this time with mugs of hot chocolate.  
"Where's Sonic?" asked Tails.  
"He got up an hour ago and went out." said Gulliver. "Not one to have breakfast is he?"  
"It's raining and sonic doesn't know the area!" exclaimed Tails. "Are the windows fogging up?" Tails wiped a hand over the window and nothing about the window changed. The room was freezing. Tails blew out air and it produced a thick white cloud. Suddenly, the lights went out again.  
"I knew that would go eventually." said Gulliver. "The temperature is like negative ten centigrade."

Sonic suddenly rushed in the door shivering and covered in ice.  
"OH MY GOSH!" exclaimed Gulliver alarmed. He quickly grabbed a thick woolly blanket and wrapped it around Sonic.  
"It feels like a freezer out there and the fog is so thick you can't even see one metre in-front of you." said Sonic. "I regret going out. It took a long time for me to find my way back."  
"You could have died of hypothermia!" exclaimed Gulliver. "It's amazing you don't even have frostbite." Suddenly, a phone rang. Gulliver withdrew an Iphone 4s from his pocket and answered it. "How is this working? There is a huge storm."  
"Never mind but you lot should get out of Saulio for the next two days." said the voice on the other end. "There is an icy cyclone hanging about."  
"Thanks for telling me but Sonic's already covered in ice." said Gulliver.  
"He's been caught in the eye of the storm and sped his way out. That's why he didn't freeze completely."

"We have to get out of here!" said Gulliver firmly. "If we don't, we'll all be frozen." They packed all the clothes up. Gulliver put an enchantment over the furniture to stop it freezing over. They walked outside and straight away, they were battling a massive blizzard. They ran as fast as they could in the direction of the train station. This time, it took about twenty minutes. The train arriving was a steam train just like the first time. The train took off straight away. Gulliver, Sally, Sonic and Tails sat in the cabin. Gulliver had actually carried Knuckles the whole way because he was in a deep sleep.  
"How did Knuckles sleep through that?" asked Tails.  
"I don't know." replied Gulliver. "He's a deep sleeper and it's only like 7:40 in the morning." The train swayed side-to-side as it moved. It snowed all the way throughout Nottino City as well. The train didn't stop there.

"Where are we going?" asked Sonic.  
"August City." said Gulliver. "Its one of the places safe from the icy eye." The train ride was over an hour long. At the station, it was still blizzard but it wasn't as bad. Gulliver carried Knuckles again as they all ran at top speed off the platform and ran through the streets a foot deep in snow. They suddenly spotted a large mansion in the distance. Gulliver led them towards it. A raccoon stood at the gate. He opened the gate to let them through and they all rushed inside. It was warm in the lounge room.  
"This is Melson's Manor." said Gulliver. "It is where King Melson lives along with his family and a few colleagues."  
"No castle?" asked Tails.  
"Stop stereotyping." said King Melson, who stood at the 3rd back door in the lounge-room. "This is a freak storm. We haven't had one in fifty years."

Even though it was now noon, it was as dark as if it were midnight.  
"It's dark." said Tails.  
"At the end of the storm, the thick snow cloud will linger dropping snow for at least another six months." said King Melson. "Chris James has had to deal with ten cases of hypothermia in the last week."  
"TV." said Tails.  
"There's nothing on." explained the king. "I already tried. All signals are jammed up from the snow. We have to depend on Mary to produce all our food using the water. All the delivery trucks keep freezing." Tails caught sight of a wolf pup fast asleep on the lounge. It was Jathas. The week went on relatively boring but the high speed winds eventually stopped.  
"It should be safe to head back now that the eye of the storm has gone." said Gulliver. They left the mansion and headed back to the train station. Once there, they sat on the station platform to wait for the train back to Saulio. The train was there straight away. The group boarded the train but this time, they were accompanied by Jathas. The train began to jolt forward as Tails watched the outside world.

* * *

**Please leave a review to let me know how the story went. Get the full copy of my fan fiction in pdf format on Snakez Social ( . ). Note: It is members-only to download this story. I will make a part 2 so it's not over yet. Sorry for cutting this story short.**


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